Comeback Effort Falls Short at Brown

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Junior forward Antoine Laganiere (Ile Cadieux, Que.) had two goals and two assists and the No. 14/15 Yale men's hockey team erased a pair of two-goal deficits, but it wasn't enough to hold off Brown, 6-4 winners in ECAC Hockey action at Meehan Auditorium.

Laganiere, whose tallies tied the game twice, matched his career-best night for goals but the four points were a top performance. He came within inches of his first hat trick after a spectacular deke of a defenseman and a big stop by the Brown goalie in the third period.

Junior goalie Jeff Malcolm (Lethbridge, AB) made 37 saves as the Bulldogs (6-4-1, 4-2-0) were outshot 43-31. He helped Yale come back from 2-0 and 4-2 margins to nearly steal this one from the Bears.

The Bears (4-6-1, 3-3-0) pelted the Yale net with rubber in the first period and Malcolm knocked down shots (17 saves) from every angle. But the home team broke through in the last few minutes and jumped out to a 2-0 lead for the second straight game against Yale.

Joey de Concilys one-timed a crossing feed from Ryan Jacobson at 17:10 before Bobby Farnham, who had two goals and one assist, rifled a shorthanded shot from the left circle at 80 seconds later. There easily could have been more without a strong opening frame from the junior Yale goalie.

At the other end, Mike Clemente (27 saves overall) stopped all nine shots and saw a few grade-A chances, including one from Eli captain Brian O'Neill.

Pucks found the net early and often in the middle frame. Junior forwards Josh Balch (Wilmette, Ill.) and Laganiere found the net in the first seven minutes to even the score at 2-2.

Balch, skating sideways through the middle of the slot, one-timed a crossing pass from sophomore Clinton Bourbonais (Colchester, Conn.) 76 seconds in. Balch (2nd goal) tried to put some mustard on the shot but didn't get it all, and the speed may have caught Clemente by surprise.

The Blue got a break on Laganiere's power-play shot from the top of the right circle. The puck was headed wide and glanced off a Brown skate before hitting the net for his fourth of the year.

Malcolm needed a dozen saves to keep the Blue close. Brown again outshot (14-8) Yale and scored two more to go up 4-2. Jacobson one-timed a pass in the low slot at 7:32, and then Matt Wahl unleashed a low shot from the point that beat Malcolm at 15:46.

"Our work ethic wasn't where it needs to be and our team structure wasn't either," said Keith Allain '80, Yale's Malcolm G. Chace Head Coach of Hockey, who watched his squad claw back from two-goal deficits three times over the last two games.

The Elis jumped all over a man-advantage to cut the margin to 4-3 less than three minutes into the third. Laganiere, from the right corner, sent a perfect pass to the low slot, where senior Chad Ziegler (4th) smacked it home with an open left side of the cage at 2:32.

Laganiere, who has been using his 6-foot-4 frame to win battles and net five goals and nine points this season, got his second of the game to even the score at 4-4. He uncoiled off a Yale faceoff win and sent the puck over Clemente's shoulder.

Malcolm made saves on two mini breakaways in the last half of the third, but got a bad break on a failed Yale clear attempt that turned into Brown's fifth tally. Jack Maclellan snapped off a rising shot from the left circle that went over the goalie's shoulder at 17:47.

The visitors pulled their goalie and called a timeout after the puck went into the stands with 32 seconds left. The timeout almost worked perfectly. Sophomore Jesse Root (Pittsburgh, Pa.) got two grade-A chances outside the crease but Clemente knocked them both aside before Farnham sent a long shot into an empty net with six seconds left.

BULLDOG BITES: Yale split the season series with Brown for the second straight year… The Blue converted two of its four advantages… There were three freshmen in the lineup, two on defense and one up front… Freshman F Trent Ruffolo (Coral Springs, Fla.), who made his collegiate debut as the first Floridian to skate for the Elis, and sophomore F Brad Peltz (Mt. Kisko, N.Y.) were inserted into tonight's lineup. They replaced sophomore Kenny Agostino (Flanders, NJ) and freshman Nicholas Weberg (Oslo, Norway). Newcomer Bennett Carroccio (Armonk, NY) was in for classmate Matt Killian (Basking Ridge, NJ) on the blueline.